Monday roundup

Have we mentioned that (1) humanitarian intervention and (2) Syria are complicated?
Wow for both letters to Carolyn.

I'd argue that even if you do know what someone's going through, it's not necessarily helpful to say it. There's a lot of value in, "what you're going through is difficult." Period.

A Brown student feministizes Taylor Swift.

There are two different things going on here: women aren't indifferent to the appearance of men's bodies, but it's just a different response.

Ag gag threatens more than animal welfare:

"It's absurd," said Amanda Hitt at the Government Accountability Project. She said she couldn't believe that an industry that has been so regularly recorded breaking the law "would then have the audacity to come to any state legislative body and say, 'Hey, we're sick of getting caught doing crimes. Could you do us a favor and criminalize catching us?'"

Check this out:

But Berman's rhetoric comes off as positively mild when compared to the email Tennessee state Rep. Andy Hoyt sent the HSUS when his ag gag measure passed: "I am extremely pleased that we were able to pass HB 1191 today to help protect livestock in Tennessee from suffering months of needless investigation that propagandist groups of radical animal activists, like your fraudulent and reprehensibly disgusting organization of maligned animal abuse profiteering corporatists, who are intent on using animals the same way human-traffickers use 17 year old women. You work for a pathetic excuse for an organization who seek to profit from animal abuse. I am glad, as an aside, that we have limited your preferred fund-raising methods here in the state of Tennessee; a method that I refer to as 'tape and rape.' Best wishes for the failure of your organization and it's true intent."

Do you live in a vegan-friendly city?

I'll have you know (and my readers do know) that I don't scare monger about GMO safety even as I advocate for labeling. But the science case is not as clear cut as some would argue. 

Does anyone edit this stuff for logic? Foods with "more fat, protein, and carbohydrates"? What else is there (besides water)?

What people drink where: an infographic.